Gene Expression Signature Precedes Clinical Multiple Sclerosis

Biological markers found in the blood are characteristic of adults who will develop the debilitating autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis (MS).

A new way of detecting blood-borne biomarkers for MS has been discovered in people who have yet to show any clinical signs of the disease. These early genetic markers may now be used to test for MS up to nine years before healthy young adults begin developing symptoms.

In a study carried out at Sheba Medical Center (Tel Aviv, Israel), scientists analyzed peripheral blood gene expression profiles in nine healthy subjects up to nine years before the onset of multiple sclerosis in comparison with 11 age-, gender-, and origin-matched healthy subjects who remained multiple sclerosis-free, and 31 subjects during the first clinical episode of multiple sclerosis.

A high throughput analysis of more than 12,000 gene transcripts expressions was performed. The screening compared similarities and differences in the blood of those who developed MS and those who did not, eventually establishing biological markers.

The scientists demonstrated a silent multiple sclerosis trait that is associated with suppressed expression of the nuclear receptor network and inhibited apoptosis of activated T-cells. This supports the role of these transcription signals in the evolution of the autoimmune processes that operate in the predisease stage of multiple sclerosis. The results of the study were published May 2010 in Neurobiology of Disease.

Prof. Anat Achiron, M.D. Ph.D., director of the Multiple Sclerosis Center at Sheba Medical Center, said, "We are not yet able to treat people with MS to prevent the onset of the disease, but every time we meet a new patient exhibiting symptoms of MS, we must ask ourselves how long this has been going on. We can diagnose MS by brain MRI, but we've never been able to know how 'fresh' the disease is". Since MS is thought to have a genetic component and a tendency to be found in siblings, the biomarkers will be used as a tool for brothers and sisters of patients.

The [US] National MS Society (NMSS; New York, NY, USA) estimates that there are currently about 400,000 cases in the U.S. and an estimated 5,000 cases in Israel.

Related Links:
Sheba Medical Center
[U.S.] National MS Society